How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and full of traitors, when your allies are unreliable and your predecessor has disappeared mysteriously? All these are enough to make a torturer want to run away... and that's exactly what Inquisitor Glockta would do - if he could walk without a cane. But now he is called to find the answers he is looking for before the Gurkul army knocks on the door.

The Northmen have poured into Angland and spread death in the frozen province of the Union. Crown Prince Ladisla is determined to repel them and win eternal glory. There is only one problem: his army is the worst that has ever existed in the history of war.

And Bayaz, the First of the Magi, leads a group of daring explorers on a mission through the ruins of the past. The most hated woman in the South, the most terrifying man in the North, and the biggest egotist of the Union create a strange but dangerous team - as long as they don't hate each other so much.

Ancient secrets will be revealed. Bloody battles will be fought and lost. And hated enemies will be forgiven - but not before they find themselves on the gallows...

"The best example of contemporary fantasy literature."
(SFX)

"Exciting plot, complex characters, and underground humor. It's not an ordinary book."
(Deathray)

"There is a wildness in his world and an awareness of the cost of violence that is extremely modern."
(The Times)

"Abercrombie has written the best fantasy trilogy of recent years. He is an author you shouldn't miss."
(Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author)